The biggest innovations in the security world are often innovated by people you do not necessarily expect, even if the systems are refined and perfected by some of the best specialist manufacturers, suppliers and installers in the space.
Possibly the best example of this is CCTV security. It was invented by an innovative and well-known musician but became viable outside of extremely expensive state security with the help of an even more famous musical superstar.
The innovations of Leon Theremin in effectively inventing CCTV are often forgotten compared to his work in creating the musical instrument which bears his name.
Meanwhile, the contributions of one of the biggest music stars in the world are a small part of a gigantic legacy.
Bing Crosby And CCTV Recording
The fundamental issue with early CCTV, from Mr Theremin’s initial innovations up until the 1950s, was that there was no way to record any of the footage captured by the security cameras.
That meant that someone had to be stationed in the security room at all times to monitor the camera and note any suspicious activity, rather than use an existing recording.
This started to change thanks to, of all people, Bing Crosby, who ultimately proved influential in the world of audio and video recording techniques.
Originally only available in Germany, audio recording technology was brought to the Allied Powers following the end of the Second World War, developed and commercialised primarily by Major Jack Mullin of the United States Army Signal Corps.
Bing Crosby used his already significant fortune to commercialise this and transformed the radio and recording industry in the process. Despite initial complaints over “canned” shows, the format proved so popular and Mr Crosby’s influence was so absolute that his recording style won out, and the audiotape was born.
However, Mr Crosby was also a very popular television star and wanted to apply the same technology to video, establishing an electronics division within Bing Crosby Enterprises (BCE) to make that goal a reality.
From Kinescope To Videotape
At the time, the only way to record a television show was the kinescope method, which essentially involved pointing a motion picture film camera at a video monitor.
The quality was less than ideal, and the cost of filming on motion picture cameras meant that it was unviable for security use.
BCE found that the same types of reel-to-reel magnetic tapes used to record radio shows would work, but found that audio tape needed to move particularly quickly to capture even blurry and indistinct moving pictures.
The BBC’s Vision Electronic Recording Apparatus (VERA) encountered very similar issues and the technology was eventually abandoned after a decade of futile development.
Improvements to the technology made it viable for broadcasters, but the problem with requiring so much tape meant that outside of a small number of locations, recording CCTV was not widespread.
Eventually, the development of the video cassette starting in the 1960s made it viable to record, retain and erase video footage, making it far more viable for businesses to incorporate security without it becoming impossible or overly expensive to manage.
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